It’s been a rambling, rocky odyssey to the release of “Don’t Worry Darling” — one involving canceled late-night appearances, rumors of production rivalries and conspiratorial frame-by-frame analysis of red carpet body language and an alleged loogie trajectory. But there was always going to be an opening weekend at the end of this road. And the numbers show that Olivia Wilde has directed a hit.
“Don’t Worry Darling” should have no trouble topping the domestic box office, projecting a $21 million debut from 4,113 theaters. The film earned $9.4 million from opening day and Thursday previews — a more-than-solid figure for an original film that carries a modest $35 million production budget.
With a star-studded cast, topped by Oscar nominee Florence Pugh and pop superstar Harry Styles, the film has stirred up enough excitement to convince fans to see how its mystery all plays out on the big screen. The audience is skewing heavily towards women, who composed 66% of opening day crowds.
Audiences weren’t deterred by largely unimpressed reviews. The film carries a rather dismal 21% approval rating from top critics on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wasn’t too hot on the film, though he did portend its ultimate popular success: “Between the pop ambition, the tasty dream visuals, and the presence of Harry Styles in his first lead role, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ should have no trouble finding an audience. But the movie takes you on a ride that gets progressively less scintillating as it goes along.”
The coming days will see if that opening audience sticks. “Don’t Worry Darling” has landed a “B-” grade through research firm Cinema Score, indicating a largely apathetic response from general moviegoers. It’s not impossible that the swirl of rumors around “Don’t Worry Darling” cultivated an event status around the film, which could ultimately lead to a more front-loaded box office performance.
“Don’t Worry Darling” stars Pugh and Styles as a happily married couple in the experimental desert community of Victory, Calif. But the shimmering routine of Nuclear Age-living is not completely as it seems, with a Svengali-like cult leader (Chris Pine) holding court over the tiny town. The film also stars Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll and Kate Berlant.
This weekend also sees the re-release of James Cameron’s sci-fi smash “Avatar,” as 20th Century Studios and parent company Disney prepare to bring audiences back to Pandora in December with the long-awaited sequel, “The Way of Water.”
More to come…
